• Keppel Becomes Sole Owner of Watermark

    Keppel Capital Senior Living, a subsidiary of Keppel Corporation that is responsible for the senior living investments and acquisitions, increased its investment in Watermark Retirement Communities to become the sole owner, effective March 19. Keppel Capital has been Watermark’s equity partner since March 2020.   In 2018, Keppel Capital... Read More »
  • Life Care’s Board Unanimously Approves New Chairman and CEO

    Life Care Centers of America, which operates more than 200 skilled nursing, post-acute, Alzheimer’s and senior living campuses in 27 states, announced that Aubrey B. Preston has been named the company’s Chairman and CEO. Life Care’s Board of Directors unanimously approved Preston as chairman and CEO after the Bradley County Chancery Court named... Read More »
  • Dwight Capital’s March Activity

    Dwight Capital and its affiliate REIT, Dwight Mortgage Trust, closed more than $364 million in real estate financing in March. Featured among the transactions were a bridge loan for Silverwoods in New Jersey, a bridge loan for a three-property skilled nursing portfolio in Rhode Island and a HUD 223(f) refinance for Skyview Heights in Washington... Read More »
  • Ohio Senior Care Portfolio Sells to Ohio-Based Operator

    Connor Doherty and Ryan Kelly of Blueprint facilitated the sale of Project United, a strategically clustered portfolio comprising five skilled nursing facilities and two assisted living communities in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area. The portfolio has a unique ownership structure with operational complexities, so Blueprint worked closely with... Read More »
  • Private Equity Firm Expands Seniors Housing Presence

    Jason Punzel, Patrick Burke and Jeff Binder of Senior Living Investment Brokerage were engaged by a West Coast-based private equity firm divesting a seniors housing community in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, as part of a strategic rightsizing of its portfolio. The community features 56 independent living, 75 assisted living and 16 memory care units... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: DOGE, The Budget and Healthcare Spending

60 Seconds with Swett: DOGE, The Budget and Healthcare Spending

DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, has been making the biggest splash in Washington, D.C. these days in terms of attention-grabbing headlines, and it appears it will try to target waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid spending as part of its efforts. Such a move could have a major impact on thousands of facilities’ bottom lines and could change how SNFs do business if reimbursement rates are affected.  That is a major dark cloud hanging over the industry, but there are way too many unknowns to even properly prepare for what’s to come. Because, what is to come? Would DOGE’s efforts go beyond just “waste, fraud and abuse,” which should be rooted out? Will the... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living: Slow and Steady

Brookdale Senior Living: Slow and Steady

Brookdale Senior Living released its fourth quarter and full-year earnings results this week, and all we can say is that the improvements, while welcomed, are slow and steady. Management has had a lot on its plate the past 18 months or so in a post-pandemic environment, but things like occupancy are moving up, but not as fast as for others. The problem as we have seen and vocalized for several years, is that it takes a long time to move a battleship in a new direction. And as the largest senior living provider in the country, it was a very large battleship to move. Management has successfully put in motion most of the necessary changes for the future, but now comes the execution part, and... Read More »
Welltower and Ventas Continue to Outperform

Welltower and Ventas Continue to Outperform

The Big Two REITs, Welltower and Ventas, continue to outperform the overall seniors housing market, leading the way in the post-pandemic recovery as the two largest owners of seniors housing properties.  Welltower reported its fourth quarter and year-end 2024 results first, and it was impressive. Its fourth quarter same-community SHOP NOI increased by 23.9% year over year, while revenue increased by 8.8%. Same-community average occupancy increased by 310 basis points year over year, and the NOI margin jumped by 320 basis points in the fourth quarter. These are unusually strong numbers, but at some point, the growth rate will have to decline as back-to-back 20% plus increases will be... Read More »
60ish Seconds with Steve Monroe: The Coming Seniors Housing Shortage?

60ish Seconds with Steve Monroe: The Coming Seniors Housing Shortage?

The Wall Street Journal just came out with a story about the coming seniors housing shortage. Unfortunately, it started with misinformation, when it stated that “seniors housing has been one of the biggest disappointments for commercial real estate investors.” In some periods yes, but in other periods not at all, when it has had outsized returns and beat the other sectors. It is all about context, and the writer should have known better. The story may, however, generate some investment interest. We are glad that occupancy has reached pre-pandemic levels, but we really need to get to 2017 levels to be happy. Remember, back in October 2020 we did the analysis and concluded it would take at... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living: Slow and Steady

Omega Healthcare Investors Continues Improvement

It has been a slog for owners of nursing homes, but Omega Healthcare Investors continues to improve from the COVID messes it encountered. Major tenant LaVie, which entered into bankruptcy protection last June, paid its full monthly rent of $3.0 million from June 2014 through January 2025. And Maplewood, which ran into some serious problems, paid $4.5 million in rent in January and $12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.  The REIT is also growing, having completed $340 million in new investments in the fourth quarter, and $939 million for the full year. The fourth quarter investments included $179 million in real estate acquisitions and $162 million in new loans. The new loans... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: DOGE, The Budget and Healthcare Spending

60 Seconds with Swett: Rising Treasuries and Senior Care M&A

Momentum in the M&A market has continued into 2025, and there is general optimism that the new Administration that descended on Washington this week will be good for the business environment. Although there is some uncertainty around what, if any, tariffs are enacted and whether their effect on prices would potentially be blunted by falling energy costs and efficiency efforts, assuming “drill baby drill” and “DOGE” have a near-immediate effect. And we don’t know about the scale of the deportations and its impact on wages. However, if M&A activity started to take off last year due to the expectation of lower interest rates, then what effect will the 10-Year Treasury rate shooting... Read More »